Debates of March 8th, 2017

Justice

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this government is extremely serious about cracking down on human trafficking while protecting women and girls from exploitation, from assault. These are things that we take very seriously. We will continue to work very hard to ensure that more women and girls are protected. We also are the party of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and we will always stand up to defend charter rights.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, research has revealed that when a woman or girl is raped in our country, her chances of being believed or being able to pursue justice are highly inadequate. I volunteered at a rape crisis centre and one of the most difficult decisions that a woman makes is whether or not to go to the police. We need to make that decision much easier.

Will the Prime Minister commit to ensuring that RCMP front-line officers have the training they need to give these women and girls confidence to pursue justice?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, 25 years ago I worked at the Sexual Assault Center of the McGill Students' Society and I know first-hand how devastating sexual assault can be. We need to do much more, even 25 years later, to make sure that we are fighting against it, that we are reducing it, and that we are creating a justice system and a system of policing that actually enable survivors of sexual assault to come forward and get justice. We still have much more work to do, but we are committed to doing that.

Status of Women

[Sheila Malcolmson, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, New Democrats know it is the federal government's job to eliminate gender inequality. Words are not enough. Women want concrete action, and we have waited far too long.

Pay equity is a fundamental human right. Countries like Iceland not only made pay equity the law, but they are now demanding that corporations prove that they are not paying women less than men.

Can the Prime Minister explain to the women of this country how much longer they will have to wait before you enact pay equity legislation?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I remind the hon. member to direct her comments to the Chair.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are committed to full pay equity.

We know that there are many things that we need to do as a society to improve outcomes for women and girls in our society. That is why we have moved forward on many different measures that will put more money in the pockets of women and families, and by making sure that our most vulnerable seniors, two-thirds of whom are women, will be able to be helped with an increase to the GIS.

We continue to work very hard to empower women and girls to succeed in all areas of success. We know we have much more work to do, and we will do that.

[Brigitte Sansoucy, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister goes on and on about being a proud feminist. He even voted in favour of a motion stating that pay equity is a basic right. Unfortunately, the government wants Canadian women to wait yet another year. Canadian women have waited long enough for the respect they deserve. The working group on pay equity released its report 12 years ago.

Why is the Prime Minister refusing to recognize that basic right by demanding pay equity now?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is very aware of progress on the pay equity front and the work we are doing to help women succeed in the labour market. We know there is still a lot of work to do, and I congratulate all of the groups and organizations that continue to demand more measures. We will keep working hard to ensure that, in Canada, all women have the same opportunities as men.

Taxation

[Brigitte Sansoucy, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I did not hear him say that he will be supporting our motion that calls for pay equity immediately.

As we all know, action is much more important than good intentions. My question is quite simple: can the Prime Minister tell us when he intends to present his plan to put an end to penalty-free amnesty deals and renegotiate tax treaties with countries that are known tax havens?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we take tax evasion and tax avoidance very seriously. That is why, in the last budget, we invested $444 million in the Canada Revenue Agency so that it could go after tax cheats and better combat tax evasion. That is what Canadians expect and that is exactly what we are going to do: continue working hard in order to achieve our objective.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, once again, no answer from the Prime Minister.

Let us try this again. The Canadian government is missing out on $9 billion in lost tax revenue every single year. Imagine what the government could properly fund with that money. We heard from women this morning about their priorities, pharmacare, child care. These could be realities, and all because the richest would simply be forced to pay their fair share.

I have two very clear questions for the Prime Minister. Will he vote in favour of the NDP motion on tax fairness? Will the Prime Minister end all penalty-free amnesty deals for tax evaders?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we take fiscal avoidance and tax dodging very seriously. This is why we put $444 million in last year's budget, so that the Canada Revenue Agency could go after tax frauds and tax cheats.

We continue to understand that this is a priority for Canadians. It is a priority for us. Everyone needs to pay their fair share of taxes. That is exactly what we are ensuring happens.

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, under the previous Conservative government, we introduced a low-tax plan for seniors that removed almost 400,000 of them from the tax rolls. As part of this plan, we increased the age amount tax credit by $2,000 for low- and fixed-income seniors.

The Minister of Finance has indicated that everything is on the table to bring in more revenue for the government to waste. Will the Minister of Finance commit to not slash the age amount tax credit, and instead protect our seniors?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful for this opportunity to remind all members of this House of the important agenda that this government has followed in order to help vulnerable seniors, and all seniors in fact. We have decreased the age of eligibility for old age security from 67 years old to 65 years old, which means that 100,000 vulnerable seniors will not need to enter into severe poverty. We have also enhanced the Canada pension plan so that future generations of seniors will also be able to live decently and adequately.

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign, the Liberals promised to run a modest deficit of only $10 billion. That was one promise they broke immediately. They also promised that they would not eliminate income splitting for seniors. We all know that the Liberals alway break the promises they make to Canadians.

Will the Minister of Finance tell us today that he will not eliminate income splitting for seniors?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased and grateful to have the opportunity to mention two other measures that we have implemented in recent months.

We increased the guaranteed income supplement by up to $1,000 per senior per year. This will benefit 900,000 seniors in Canada and will lift 13,000 seniors out of poverty. We also transferred $200 million for seniors' housing in order to help a good many of them escape the appalling housing conditions in which they find themselves. These measures will make our society better.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, 2016 was a difficult year for our small business owners. Their hiring credit was axed, their payroll taxes were increased, and they did not get the tax cut the Liberals promised. Small businesses are being targeted by the Liberals for being too small and the Prime Minister accused small businesses of existing solely to avoid tax.

Will the Prime Minister finally listen to our entrepreneurs and cut their taxes in the upcoming budget?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to rise in this House, especially on International Women's Day. I wish everyone the best on this day, especially our women entrepreneurs.

This government has committed to making more opportunities for under-represented groups. We are working better with entrepreneurs, we are listening and engaging with small business owners, we are speaking to their customers so that we can create the opportunities they need. The solutions that our small businesses owners have are not only good for Canada, but they are amazing for export markets. We will continue to open up those markets so that we can encourage our small business owners to export, as well.

Infrastructure

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association says the Alberta government is breaking its agreement to flow $300 million of building Canada funds to local municipal projects. Instead, it is going to pay down the Alberta NDP's out-of-control debt. The infrastructure minister keeps falsely repeating that this money is building infrastructure and creating jobs. Municipalities need infrastructure now.

When will the minister tell the premier this is not a slush fund and when will he finally stand up for communities in Alberta?

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the hon. member that federal infrastructure dollars can only be used for infrastructure projects. We have approved 127 projects for Alberta; 125 of those projects are in municipalities of all sizes, such as Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Grand Prairie, and Lethbridge. All those projects are creating jobs and opportunities throughout the country, including in Alberta's communities.

Air Transportation

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Mr. Speaker, for months the Liberals have been quietly preparing to sell off Canada's airports and have refused to answer questions, but they have hired Credit Suisse to study the idea.

Tonight, the Prime Minister is having an exclusive meeting with BlackRock, a meeting that media has been banned from attending.

It is clear that these Liberals have spent the credit card to the limit and are now selling off the furniture. Will the transport minister admit that he is selling our airports and tell us to whom he is selling them?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I want to reassure my colleague that what is most important for us is improving service to the air passenger. That is why we are working very hard to lower their costs, to give them more choices, more competition, to reduce the time it takes for them to go through security or through customs. We will even be giving them a bill of rights. That is what is motivating us when we talk about our airports and our airlines.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. Earlier today I was able to compliment the Daughters of the Vote delegates on their decorum in the House. They were occasionally rowdy in support of each other and I would love to thank everyone here for the same kind of thing. However, let us all listen to the hon. member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Mr. Speaker, by not answering the question, the Liberals are just trying to hide the fact that the finance minister will put a big “for sale” sign on Canada's largest and most important airports. The Liberals' propensity for spending money they do not have is forcing them to have exclusive meetings with BlackRock to organize a shotgun sale of Canada's airports before the ink of the budget is even dry. Will the minister commit to maintaining Canadian ownership of these strategic economic assets, or are the Liberals just that desperate for money?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, in terms of concrete measures, I am sure my colleague heard the fact that we made the decision last November to increase the international ownership in our airlines from 25% to 49% in order to increase competition. I also announced at that time a bill of rights or a rights regime to make sure that air travellers' rights would be taken into consideration. We are already beginning to see more competition. The prices are coming down. We are very glad that we are offering more service to our passengers. That is our intention and we are going to continue to do that.